Ref for Sunday.

[Hymenoptera]

But blaming it all on Doyle isn't fair. I disagreed with a number of his calls but we dug ourselves a grave.

When the ref has that amount of influence on a game i think its fair. Any other ref would have called that a penalty try. He's a joke.

That said, we were lacking everywhere, constantly exploited out wide, a backline that continues to be so deep its schoolboy to defend as we have no set plays, just bosh after bosh until we lose possession. I thought Robson was poor, ponderous and decision making as captain needs to be questioned when going for the 3 so close to the line, it didn't help the scoreline so what was the point in moving possession back to our half still behind with time running out. Also the decision to slowly (theme of the day) crash the line with time gone until we lost it, Irish were ready for it all day.
As mentioned, an utter butchering of a try by Watson.

Irish were big and strong, I think we just about had parity in the forwards, the backs are a shambles. Id start Umaga next week as I'd rather take a punt than continue this dross. We needed a Hughes today.

Pluses were Kibirige's finishing and Willis was in a class of his own.

[RBB]

Doyle was poor but we shouldn't have been in a position where that was the pivotal element. We defended too deep and too narrow, their first two tries were soft, a decent defence would have covered them. We failed to make possession count and our phase play was ineffective. Where was Fekitoa, I for one wasn't convinced he was a player that would be setting things on fire?

I tried to console myself that a few results this weekend had gone against the grain but we had perhaps one starter missing due to the RWC, so not much consolation, no excuses, we were poor and failed to capitalise when we had the chance.

[Hymenoptera]

I’m disappointed but i’ll get over it. On paper our squad looked pretty good. Haven’t watched the game yet. It’s all kicking off in the other place. Nice to see some regular discussion here, I’m sure we’ll come good and have a shout to creep into top 4. Coyw

With respect, good paper squads don't win games, they lose at home to potential table propers. While I applaud your enthusiasm you might want to check the game out first. While it might seem a bit early to be going off on one, more performances like todays will get you one thing, and thats a fat zero.

[Shugs]

Yes, this was poor. The ref wasn't great but it would be wrong to pretend that was the main issue. It's too early to be overly negative but there were some alarm bells out there today. Mainly our lack of invention and clinicalness, our decision making and a general lack of any quick ball, especially off our good number of breakdowns. We must believe we'll get better otherwise it's going to be a long season.

[Westy68]

That was very difficult to watch and the disappointment is hard to hide.

A lot of players showed very little, 12 & 13 were poor. Lima showed nothing again and were are a team with no direction but now with a lot of low quality players compared to 3/4 seasons ago.

I’m nervous and can see a real problem next week then a big game against Bath, which I’ll be at but I can see 3 and 0